Back to EQ8 this week. You know I love a repetitive, block-based pattern!

This design is just squares and half-rectangle triangles. The HRTs are 3:1 – three times as long as they are wide. If I were to make these, I’d use a Bloc-Loc ruler or maybe even design a paper-piecing template to create the whole block. I like my points to be super-precise!

I’ve played with this design a lot in EQ8, and coloured it in a million ways – many of which look like completely different designs. I’ll show some on Instagram during the week.

I’m really tempted to make this design into a quilt – I just love it! And it’s probably time I tackled 3:1 HRTs.

Like this:

In the past week, I found myself with some unexpected sketching time – but no dot pad. Instead, I pulled out a Moleskine grid notebook. I don’t normally use grid paper to sketch anymore, because I find that the printed lines limit my imagination a bit. But in this case, it didn’t really matter, because I already had an idea for a design I wanted to explore.

I only had a red gel pen with me, so I just used four levels of shading to differentiate the pieces in each block. The blocks are set on point, but they could just as easily be swivelled 45 degrees to be set normally, with no need for partial blocks on the top, bottom and sides.

I mocked up the same design in EQ8 when I got a chance, but I don’t think it looks any better or clearer than the hand-drawn version. The only advantage is that I can colour it differently; this version is my homage to the new Pantone Color of the Year: Living Coral.

I also realised later that I’d oriented the blocks slightly differently, but I don’t think that matters so much.

This design could be made into a quilt pattern very easily using strips – lots and lots of strips!

Like this:

Like last week’s sketch, this week’s design combines horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines, stretching from one side of the page to the other.

The shapes are exactly the same as last week, just pointing in alternate directions. And I’ve tweaked the colours in Preview on the Mac, because I’m too cheap (and lazy!) to use Photoshop or Illustrator 🙂

This design could be made into a pattern using squares, triangles and rectangles. Lots of overlapping shapes present plenty of opportunities for colour play and transparency, too!